IT’S IRONIC, isn’t it, that in the 10 seasons during which the Devils have established themselves as poster boys for defensive accountability, only John Madden, who won the 2001 Selke Trophy, has been individually recognized in postseason balloting?

Bobby Carpenter never got so much as a sniff of acknowledgment back in the days he went straight-up against the opposition’s top pivot, once he had reinvented himself and become the Devils’ checking center. Martin Brodeur, we all know, never has won a Vezina. And, remarkably, Scott Stevens never has won a Norris.

Pat Burns finds it even more astonishing that Scott Niedermayer never has been cited as the league’s best defenseman.

“I think that Nieder has been overlooked for a long time, not just this season,” Burns said prior to last night’s Game 3 of the Eastern Finals at the Meadowlands. “I’ve always wondered why he hasn’t won the Norris Trophy.

“But then, the Norris Trophy has changed from what it used to be. Scoring goals seems to be the important factor now, where it used to be all-around best defenseman. If you look at the all-around best, you have to put Scott Niedermayer in there . . . and [the lack of goal-scoring] is also why Scott Stevens has been overlooked.

“I think they should put in another trophy for the best offensive defenseman, and call it the Bobby Orr or Doug Harvey Trophy. But that’s just my opinion. It may not be worth five cents, but that’s what it is.”

Which trophy would Orr have won while dominating the NHL in winning the Norris eight straight times from 1968 through 1975? That one, or the Harvey? Or both? Which would Paul Coffey have won while dominating a decade later at both ends? What about Nicklas Lidstrom, widely acknowledged as the best two-way defenseman in the league, who has claimed the last two Norris Trophies, and last year won while finishing in a tie with Washington’s Sergei Gonchar for most points by a D?

Which trophy would have best suited Raymond Bourque, equally worthy at both ends, who won five Norris Trophies in an eight-year span? When Brian Leetch won it twice, was it because he dominated at both ends, or because he rang up great numbers? Interestingly, when Leetch led defensemen in scoring with a 21-goal, 79-point season in 2000-2001, he not only did not register on the Norris balloting, he became the first highest-scoring defenseman in 23 years not to earn a spot on either the first- or second all-star team. His minus-18 might have had something to do with it.

Actually, the suggestion offered by Burns following the morning skate is the flip side of a proposal that’s floated around for years: that a second award be instituted for blue-liners, but given to the best defensive defenseman. Maybe the Harry Howell Trophy, to pick a name; maybe now, the Scott Stevens Trophy.

For so long, it seemed a toss-up between Brad Park and Mark Howe for the dubious recognition as best defenseman in league history never to have won a Norris. Park finished second in the voting six times between 1970 and 1978, four times trailing Orr, twice trailing Denis Potvin. Howe finished as runner-up three times in the five-season stretch between 1983 and 1987, once losing to Rod Langway, once to Paul Coffey, once to Bourque.

Now they have been surpassed as the greatest never to win by a Devil. Not Niedermayer, but Stevens, who nonetheless will sail into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

At least that’s this column’s opinion, which, in the city, is worth a quarter.